Hotel Guest Finds a Note of Warning Hidden in the Sheets

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"If you're reading this, housekeeping did not change your sheets."

Jordi Lippe-McGraw

April 08, 2016

One of the bonuses of staying at a hotel is the fact you don’t have to clean up after yourself and you’re treated to clean sheets stretched creaselessly over a perfectly made bed. No surprise, then, that one traveler was a bit disturbed to find a hand-written note in her bed during a recent Courtyard Marriot stay that read, “If you’re reading this, then housekeeping did not change your sheets!”

The note was posted on a Reddit thread by an anonymous user under the ominous title, “Heard something crinkle when I settled in for the night.” The user did not reveal the location of the property, but the note was written on the hotel’s own letterhead.

Cleanliness is always a concern for travelers, and many Reddit threads have popped up about random and gross discoveries in hotel rooms. A recent study by Travelmathcalled “Hotel Hygiene Expose” actually tested the germiest parts of a hotel room and found bathroom counters were the worst culprits, followed by the remote control, desk, and phone. Their studies of the bacteria levels in colony-forming units (CFUs) found that three-star hotels were actually less germ-ridden than four- and five-star hotels.

Let it be known, however, that hotels bear the burden of this scrutiny somewhat unfairly—all aspects of travel, including rental cars, pose hygiene risks for globe-trotters.